Reapproaching Mahler: New perspectives on normal autism, symbiosis, splitting and libidinal object constancy from cognitive developmental theory

Margaret Mahler's seminal work on the psychological birth of the infant has generated more critical discussion than most other psychoanalytic theories of early development. But while the empirically, theoretically, and method ologically based criticisms of Mahler's theory are generally justified, her critics fail at times to consider some of the intriguing and creative insi ghts that her theoretical formulations tried to capture. This paper attempt s to reformulate these insights using the new conceptual tools that current cognitive developmental theory provides. Mahler's stage of normal autism i s reconsidered in the light of contingency detection theory as an initial p hase of primary preoccupation with self-generated perfectly response-contin gent stimulation. Her concept of normal symbiosis is recast with the help o f attachment theory's views on homeostatic regulation and the social biofee dback model of affect-reflective mirroring interactions with parents. Final ly, her ideas about the development of splitting and libidinal object const ancy are reconsidered according to recent theories of early representationa l development and mentalization.